Search and Rescue has a busy weekend

Steamboat Springs  Routt County Search and Rescue responded to separate calls Sunday afternoon in which two Steamboat Springs residents were taken to Yampa Valley Medical Center with moderate injuries.

Search and Rescue incident commander Kristia Check-Hill said a 51-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man suffered back injuries in the unrelated incidents. Their names weren’t provided and their conditions were unknown Monday.

Check-Hill said Search and Rescue was called at about 1:20 p.m. to a report of a woman who was bucked off a horse at Cross Mountain Ranch off Routt County Road 29 south of Hayden. Because the woman’s cabin was seven miles away from where an ambulance could reach her, Check-Hill said it took a crew on snowmobiles to get her out about four hours later. She said West Routt Fire Protection District firefighters transported the woman to the hospital.

In the second incident, Check-Hill said Search and Rescue was called at about 4:40 p.m. to a report of a man who landed on his back after going off a jump on his snowboard near the the bottom of the Vogue trail on the Steamboat Ski Area. Check-Hill said Search and Rescue responded because the ski area isn’t open for the season and Steamboat Ski Patrol isn’t on duty. She said Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue took the man to the hospital less than two hours after the call.

Check-Hill said Search and Rescue also was called to rescue four hunters Saturday night who were lost because of the storm. The hunters were on four-wheelers and couldn’t make it back to their camp near the Crane Park area north of Columbine, Check-Hill said. She said Search and Rescue found them an hour or so later. The men were cold, wet and uninjured.

Check-Hill said Search and Rescue has been busy the last three to four weeks as the weather has changed. She advised people who head into the backcountry to have a cell phone or GPS device and to take other appropriate precautions.

“Just be prepared in case something doesn’t go the way you think it’s going to go,” Check-Hill said. “And don’t hesitate to call. Anything can happen to any of us at any time. Nobody goes out there saying, ‘I’m going to get lost or get injured.’ It just happens.”